1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an activated carbon which is used in an activated carbon electrode plate for removing air pollutants, including dust and offensive odor substances, and a method of preparing an activated carbon electrode plate. More specifically, the present invention relates to an activated carbon which is used in an activated carbon electrode plate and to a method of preparing an activated carbon electrode plate using the same, in which the activated carbon can maximize the specific surface area of the electrode to make the distribution of current uniform, thereby maximizing the adhesion of suspended matter, and can also remove volatile organic substances and offensive odor substances from gases.
2. Description of Related Art
During the last few years, rapid urbanization and industrialization have led to increases in the emission of smoke from vehicles and factories and caused air pollution not only indoor environments, but also in public environments, such as tunnels, subway stations, theaters and the like. Such air pollution problems have become serious social issues.
In addition, due to the recent frequent occurrence of yellow sand events, public consciousness of the need to control air pollution has increased. The major air pollutants are dust particles, volatile organic substances and offensive odor substances.
One example of methods for removing dust particles among air pollutants is an electric dust collector. This electric dust collector generally comprises a charging unit that creates corona discharge to electrically charge dust particles, and a dust removal unit that removes the electrically charged dust particles by allowing the dust particles to adhere to an electrode plate.
However, this electric dust collector has a problem in that high-voltage direct current is required for corona discharge, indicating that a large amount of electricity is consumed.
Furthermore, the electrode plate in the electric dust collector is generally made of a stainless steel or iron plate. However, the iron plate has problems in that the specific surface area to which dust particles adhere is low and current density is concentrated on the edges of the electrode plate such that dust particles do not uniformly adhere to the surface of the electrode plate. In addition, in the electric dust collector, ozone (O3) is formed by reaction with the oxygen in the air during corona discharge, and for this reason, an ozone removal unit needs to be provided following the dust removal unit. Furthermore, a material to be removed by the electric dust collector is limited only to dust, and thus the electric dust collector cannot remove volatile organic substances such as benzene and toluene, or offensive odor substances such as ammonia (NH3) gas and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas.